Unanderra Hearts have done what no team has been able to do before this season, beating league champions 2-0 to win the District League grand final at WIN Stadium.
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It wrapped up the redemption story for the Hearts, who avenged their loss in the grand final in 2020 to Oak Flats.
The match was headlined by a stellar defensive effort from the Hearts, who were under the pump for a lot of the game.
"I said [before the game] if we turned up we could give them a fright and that's what we did," Hearts coach Rod Williams said.
"In the regular season they were by far and away the better side and they are the best side in the league but grand finals are there for the script to be written and we wrote the script. I thought we were the best side of 120 minutes," he said.
Speaking on their Hearts defensive efforts, Williams said he was proud of the grit his side showed.
"We had two or three that got cleared [off the line by the Hearts defence] that happened in a five minute flurry.
"We then held them to one shot in the second half so I've got to give the boys credit, it was our game," Williams said.
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The deadlock was broken when Mark Picciolini came off the bench to score in the first period of extra time.
Leading into the game the Thistle were looking to round out a perfect season with a league championship and grand final double.
Meanwhile Hearts coach Williams was looking for a repeat of his 2018 success with Coniston when they won the District League title.
Unanderra started the game the better of the two sides and had a couple of good chances in the first 15 minutes of the contest.
The Hearts started on fire with winger Valentino Merxhushi getting into some space on the right wing and putting his shot just wide of the left post.
Unanderra creative-man Tatsuki Nagatsuki then found himself in some space and also put his shot just wide on the left-hand side.
Captain Christian Plakias then had the next shot on goal but had his shot saved by Thistles goalkeeper Jordan Paull.
It was Robbie Delbanco that took the next chance, but Paull was able to meet the task once more.
The Thistles grew into the game and had their best chance of the game. Charlie Jones broke free from the Unanderra defence and forced a sensational save from Blake Coad. Then Luke Debrot saved the following shot off the line.
The Thistle then definitely should have scored through Rod Watson who hit the crossbar and then Unanderra went down the other end and Jonathon Liddle should have scored but put his shot over the bar from six yards.
Remarkably, the game finished 0-0 at the end of the half after a frantic end to the first period of the game.
Into the second half the game went and thankfully for the fans, the match picked up from where it left off with chances at both ends.
Scott Bridge had a shot from distance with his wicked left peg but put the shot over the bar and then just a minute later had a shot saved from goalkeeper Paull.
Thistle captain Vaughan Patterson had his header from a set-piece situation go just wide with just 20 minutes to go in the contest.
Brad Watts should have made it 1-0 but Jason Goldsmith cleared the ball off the line, the second time the Hearts defenced had cleared off the line in the match.
Nagatsuki then could have won it with one of the last kicks in regulation time, but his shot was held by Paull.
Watts then had a chance for the league champions but put the shot wide of the post.
Unanderra had a shout for a penalty in the dying stages waved away by the referee.
There was nothing to separate the two sides and the match went into extra time.
The deadlock was finally broken 23 seconds into the first period of extra time, with substitute Mark Picciolini scoring for the Hearts sending the fans into raptures.
The result was put beyond doubt in the second period extra-time, with attacking outlet Nagatsuki scoring a belter from outside the box.
2-0 was what the score remained and the Hearts achieved what seemed to be the impossible before the match.
Helensburgh attacker Luke van Zyl could not hide his disappointment.
"I'm gutted to be honest," he said.
"We just didn't adapt to the conditions and it hurts. Anything can happen on these types of days. It doesn't matter if you go the whole season undefeated like we did or come in off a bit of form, anything can happen and whoever turns up on the day gets the trophy. We didn't turn up today."
van Zyl added that despite the feelings of hurt after the game, he was still proud of what the team had achieved as they look for Premier League promotion next season.
"When we look back on it in a few days we will be proud of ourselves but it's going to sting today," he said.
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